Can anyone clearly define what human nature is?

Question

Over dinner debates about how man should do this or that are often punctuated by another guest saying "ah, but that won't work because of human nature". Does this mean that if you placed 100 people in paradise, with everything they need, that one, or more, of the 100 will be inherently bad? Is that human nature? Is human nature greed? What then of people who share everything they have, thus not being greedy. Is human nature to be violent? Is it about natural survival of the individual but not of a group or race? Is it about power for the individual? But, even if some or all of these are human nature, why does it not apply to all? Would that mean that some people have "human nature" and others do not?

If someone out there can list, clearly, the definition of what human nature is I would like to hear from you.

Answer 1

The short answer to the definition of human nature is it is the sum of qualities and traits shared by all humans.

"What is the Ethical Culture view of human nature? What is the Ethical Culture definition of human being? Do human beings have worth?

It is human to ask questions about one's human being and to spin a narrative web of questions, answers, and more questions.

Ethical Culture has no singular explanation to these profound queries, although it does have an approach: it enters the stream, is the stream, of humanness, ethically reflecting. As the stream broadens, new visions present themselves. As the stream refines its path, potentialities become tendencies, impinging on the more certain:

We live, we breathe, we think, we die. We define ourselves in the context of others. We plan, we anticipate. We choose our behaviors before we act.

Our human journey began as two-legged, sentient, upright beings with mostly two opposed thumbs, ten fingers and ten toes. Yet this picture is as incomplete as a spider without its web. Clothes of both body and spirit also make us what we are. Beyond cotton and concepts, the clothing of our atmosphere is critical as well: On Jupiter every bone in our bodies would be crushed. We are earth-dwellers, and must carry a patch of earth wherever we travel.

We plan to travel far. We are star-gazers filled with longing. It is, after all, "human nature" to fly and to do all sorts of "unnatural" things that our brains conjure up out of protoplasm, hope, and jelly. What transmutations will occur along the way that push us past who we presently are? In the gray fuzziness of actuality, will some beings, looking backward, define themselves apart?: Beings who have perhaps joined symbiotically with artificial intelligences, gaining the ability to calculate as fast as machines? -- Beings who have somehow managed to defy the presently understood limits of time and space? -- What future androids and angels, if any, will categorize themselves as "post-human"? It is human to invent imaginary partners and to speculate.

In the meantime, as we explore our roots we see we have sprung from a place of triple lineage: Halfway between the ethereal realm of gasses and the fixed world of crystals, we stand in a middle place inhabited also by the amoeba and rose. And though neither amoeba nor rose is haunted by ambition and the endless craving for meanings, still, we share a joint journey: Neither chaos nor complete order is our destination, but rather, the dynamic spiraling space between.

As we evolve we ask ourselves: What cannot be changed? What can be changed, and, — should we? Who am I? Who are you? Where have we come from? Where are we going? Our answers often lead to better questions. We are the Keepers of Questions. It is our ethically sacred task.

The questions keep coming: Philosophically, we ask: Is any one thing any one self-called human does human nature? What is the lowest common denominator? That may depend on our intentions. Are we looking for a common base, or are we searching for what at least some humans are capable of becoming? What are our highest aspirations? Given, say, a goal of "continuance of eternal play", what should we discourage? What should we enhance? How can we create holding environments that liberate rather than incarcerate? How might "attributing worth to ourselves and others" help make this happen?

Ethically, we ask: Is it human nature to do good things . . . bad things? How do we define good and bad? What is it to be greedy, selfish., altruistic, cooperative. ? How do we differentiate between a masochist and a martyr? Is intensity or balance our goal?

Culturally, we ask: What are the behaviors common to all cultures? (It would be strange to find a culture that emphasized the creation of hermits.) Should a more ethical culture go for or against what is "wired in"? ("Because you can, it would be best you could." Or, alternately, "You may not even though you can.") Is it possible to distinguish between repressed and non-existent behavior without resorting to anecdotal evidence? ("My culture doesn't allow me my sister.") Ought Jack ever marry Sister Jill or Brother John?

People arguing along different lines will come up with different answers. This is desirable. Profound questions are always too broad to be fully and succinctly answered. They are designed to lead us past pat solutions to that vast domain of silence, where, in still places, listening is born. In time, refreshed, we return, with ever keener questions."

by Lois Kellerman

Answer 2

The term human nature includes all good and bad, from gas chambers and killing fields to a mother's unconditional love, or a good samaritan risking their life to save a stranger.

If someone's still caught up in power and greed, they're really no more than just a clever animal.

If they've fully experienced their oneness with life then they'll try to help all beings with kindness and compassion.

The true measure of humanity, our real human nature, is kindness.

Answer 3

You were on the right track. If you would have kept going with your reasoning, you would have figured it out yourself. It's human nature to be all of these things. If we're talking strictly about nature, then naturally all humans have had to survive in all kinds of conditions and everyone of us have had different experiences. Through good times and difficult times, we adopt and learn. And what we learn is what we become. Its human nature to survive and for that we don't just need the physiological but emotional things as well. Depending on who the person is, the order of these needs change. Those that have had their physiological needs taken care of, search for emotional and vice versa. Some don't have either so they fight for it. (steal, lie, be stingy).
So all of the things you described are human nature. We are just naturally different. Just like every other animal on the planet. There are certain behavior patterns we all follow, but each one of us have a different personality. Same thing with lions, elephants, and horses. It's our nature to follow the laws of nature.

Answer 4

Human nature is a myth. We are simply complex animals trained from cradle to grave to act in a certain way and to fit into society!Tabula Rosa! Although I do think every person can be bad good or indifferent in different stages in their life! Look at how children behave as they are the most natural out of us all!

Answer 5

Human nature – we define ourselves by that witch we amass, wealth, power, knowledge, respect, caring, love, remembrance… So greed or consumption is the core of human nature. Understand neither greed nor consumption is evil, it’s just the perspective we each place on them. So an answer to your question may be: human nature is an opinion of one or more humans but never an absolute.

Answer 6

It is inherent in our natures to be self serving...some being more prone to it than others. It also refers to our natural survival instincts; and to our propensity for those things that define us as human beings...some being more good natured than others...but understandable to some extent. We are all part of the human condition and share traits known to all of us...hence "Human Nature". We feel pain when we are injured, for example. It is your personal integrity that ultimately defines you.

Answer 7

It is habit that comes out naturally i,e without teaching, learning etc say for example everybody eat anything with his\her hand throught the mouth .whether animal or human being.to eat is to put the things to the mouth not anywhere else.that is quite natural.

Answer 8

A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

Answer 9

i can just say that human nature is the typical character that all human beings share, often seen as being imperfect.

Answer 10

Yes, Human Natuer is an Australian Musical Group, Dont like their though..lol